Recently, recruiters at top universities and college administrators alike have recognized a growing trend in the student job market, namely the adoption of “adjusted” GPA figures. It appears that students have realized what investment bankers have known for years: if you don’t like a number, you can change it.

Say you are an investment banker at a large Wall Street Firm, like Silverman Sachs or Layman Brothers, and you are trying to syndicate Theoretical FCF Corp’s bonds. The problem is that Theoretical FCF Corp seems to lack any actual cash flow and will almost certainly never actually pay down any debt. What do you do? Just pro forma their EBITDA to what their cash flow would be if they actually generated cash flow, as you kinda expect they may sometime in the future. And if that doesn’t get your bond customers to a number that makes them want to write big tickets, adjust that number for “one-time” expenses like “bad debt”, “restructuring charges” or the vague but powerful “fees”. This is how you get it done when syndicating debt or selling IPOs.

Now for a student, their GPA is basically the equivalent of a firm’s 4 year trailing cash flows. The number itself carries huge weight in job interviews, yet for decades students have reported GPA exactly as it appears on their transcript. While entirely accurate, this is a huge mistake. Job applicants are now realizing that adjusting their GPAs can give a more accurate misrepresentation of their performance and expected future production.

Why should an employer hire an average of you over the last four years, when what they should be interested is a real misrepresentation of what you could be now if not for certain events? Here are some ways students are making themselves look better on paper:

Add-Backs for non-recurring GPA deductions, such as getting drunk at a final, or anything that happened freshman year

Pro forma GPA for dating someone smart or at least someone who wears glasses in the morning.

Projected GPA levels for future years using the same class load. Surely a student would be more efficient in those classes if the student took them again. Thus the student should adjust their GPA to better match their future production.

And the most common move, arbitrarily making their GPA a 3.6 – good enough to get by, but not good enough to raise suspicion.

Recommendation: If you are serious about a job in finance, it’s important to signal that “you get it” before you even arrive. We heartily endorse the use of adjusted and PF GPAs for this reason. Remember, it’s not what you did or will do, but what you can convince people you did or will do.

$$$Adjusted GPA on a Pro Forma Basis [Long or Short Capital] $$$Pledge task for a “normal (other then this) 27 year old Investment Banker: In order to get into a graduate school business group I have to find someone whom……

What about adjusted GPA accounting for other schools? Say a student earned a 3.9 at the Institute of Safari Planet. Can they adjust for excessive management compensation and arrive at an adjusted GPA of 3.45 at Chicago?

Although, it may work better the other way around. A student from Chicago could say they had an Institute of Safari Planet equivalent of 3.9 despite their transcript’s claim to 3.45. I hear this is common among law students and it may be a new “interdisciplinary” approach.

the funny thing is that i used this approach during a job interview in detroit of all places. the interviewer asked me to turn over my college transcript, and as i slid it across the table and his fingers touched the envelope, i clamped my hand down and said “wait! before you open . . ” and explained that he should really look at my GPA as a time-weighted GPA due to stronger recent two years’ performance, and non-recurring weak performance during the prior two years (actually more than two, but whatever..i took my time in getting to the real world…i knew it would always be there)

The Law of Attaction states, “You get exactly what you spend your time thinking about”. If you think about winning in life, you’ll win. But if you think thoughts of defeat, you’ll end up defeated.
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Welcome to the April 12, 2007 edition of positive mindset and wealth creation….

Moses E. Miles III presents Finding A New Career – The Importance of Understanding And Accepting Yourself posted at Three Sticks, saying, Article that stresses the importance of understanding and accepting yourself when you try to find a career jonatha…

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